| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: Carigliano, Duchesse de
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Peasantry
The Member for Arcis
Guillaume
Cesar Birotteau
Lebas, Joseph
Cesar Birotteau
Cousin Betty
Lebas, Madame Joseph (Virginie)
Cesar Birotteau
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: lay a little pile of papers arranged and docketed as neatly as
anything in Mr. Clarke's office.
"Well, Villiers, have you made any discoveries in the
last three weeks?"
"I think so; I have here one or two memoranda which
struck me as singular, and there is a statement to which I
shall call your attention."
"And these documents relate to Mrs. Beaumont? It was
really Crashaw whom you saw that night standing on the doorstep
of the house in Ashley Street?"
"As to that matter my belief remains unchanged, but
The Great God Pan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: Whos scherdes schynen as the Sonne,
And hath his softe pas begonne
With al the chiere that he may
Toward the bedd ther as sche lay,
Til he cam to the beddes side.
And sche lai stille and nothing cride, 1990
For he dede alle his thinges faire
And was courteis and debonaire:
And as he stod hire fasteby,
His forme he changeth sodeinly,
And the figure of man he nom,
Confessio Amantis |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Master of Life!" he cried, desponding,
"Must our lives depend on these things?"
On the next day of his fasting
By the river's brink he wandered,
Through the Muskoday, the meadow,
Saw the wild rice, Mahnomonee,
Saw the blueberry, Meenahga,
And the strawberry, Odahmin,
And the gooseberry, Shahbomin,
And the grape.vine, the Bemahgut,
Trailing o'er the alder-branches,
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